Fight: Vladimir Putin's bodyguards were involved in a punch-up at the BRICS summit in South Africa

Armed guards from Vladimir Putin's entourage were involved in an ugly fight in South Africa after they were ordered to put top secret suitcases - believed to contain the codes for Russia's nuclear arsenal - through a security scanner.

The nightmare scenes came as the Kremlin leader arrived in Durban on an official trip to attend the 'BRICS' summit.

Angry 'pushing and shoving' broke out after some members of Putin's security detail were prevented from following the Russian president into the conference hall staging the summit, which was hosted by South Africa's president Jacob Zuma and also involved Brazil, Russia, India and China.

'Putin managed to go through their lines, but his closest security detail were ordered to put their small suitcases on the belt to X-ray check them,' Moskovsky Komsomolets revealed.

These were the 'very particular suitcases, secret ones, which are always carried right behind the president's back and the guards never let go even for a second,' the newspaper added.

'They tried to literally push out of the building a part of President's security service, part of his protocol service and part of Kremlin's information service.'

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Conflict: A South African security guard pushes Putin's bodyguards out of the convention hall

Stand-off: The two sides argued about the security procedures for the concert